Chelsea legend Frank Leboeuf has been forced to eat humble pie after expressing his ‘love’ for a Blues defender he previously said was not at the required level to play for the Stamford Bridge outfit.
Leboeuf, who spent five years in west London and won six trophies during his time with Chelsea, was one of Marc Cucurella’s biggest critics when the left-back arrived from Brighton in a deal worth £60million in 2022.
At the time, Leboeuf felt the Spain international’s early performances for Chelsea proved that did not ‘belong’ at Stamford Bridge.
Indeed, speaking to ESPN midway through Cucurella’s first season, the Frenchman said: “Hopefully Reece James and Ben Chilwell will go back into fitness as soon as possible because we need them.
“We don’t want to see Cucurella anymore. With all due respect to a man that I don’t know, the player is not good enough for Chelsea. It’s as simple as that. It’s crazy that they signed him for £60m, but we can see that he doesn’t belong to this level.”
However, Leboeuf now regrets being so harsh on Cucurella and feels that the 26-year-old has since developed into one of Chelsea’s most important players.
Cucurella has featured in all but two of Chelsea’s league games this season and scored the winner in Sunday’s narrow victory over struggling Leicester City to boost the club’s Champions League hopes.
Analysing that win at The Bridge, Leboeuf said on ESPN: “I want to mention somebody because I was very harsh, very hard on him about two years ago.
“Cucurella. I call him Cucu the saviour! That’s what I call him. He’s become my idol! That guy is amazing: defensively, offensively. Cucu the saviour, I love you. But everyone else has to work harder, come on guys! Go back to basics.
“Chelsea are keeping hold of the ball but doing nothing with it. Then later in the game when they need the ball they give the ball away. They looked completely lost against Leicester. They won, it’s okay, but I’m not very happy with the performance.”
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Cucurella backs Chelsea mentality
Chelsea’s form has dropped off alarmingly in the second half of the season, although their victory over the Foxes was their third in a row and saw them jump back into the top four after Manchester City lost at Nottingham Forest.
And Cucurella now believes they are getting back on track and showing the right attitude for a strong end to the campaign.
He told Sky Sports: “We know that we need to defend with everything and today the team showed a lot of passion.
“I think Enzo passed me the ball and I see that I have the option to shoot. Normally I wouldn’t but I tried. We got the three points and we want to fight for the objectives.
“I’m really happy. I think it’s a long process, I needed to work really hard in my bad moments. Maybe something I need to improve is being more clinical in the final third.
“In the last minute we showed energy and the fans helped us in our tough moments when we’re a bit tired. We defend the same club and we need to stay together. The support is very important when things go not well.”
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